This Element explores the yearning for things of the past, from early modern antiquarianism to the contemporary art market. It tells a global story about scholars who, driven by this yearning, roamed the world and amassed many of its historical artefacts. Their motivation was not just pleasure or profit. They longed for a past that had been lost and strived to reconstruct world history anew. This rewriting of history unleashed heated debates, all over the world and raging for centuries. The debates concerned not only the past but also the present and the future. Many believed that, by revealing a strange and foreign past, the material remains opened a path to modernity. So, the Element investigates not only the history of historical scholarship, and its obsession with things, but also our relationship to the past as modern human beings.
| ISBN: | 9781009670890 |
| Publication date: | 27th November 2025 |
| Author: | Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 75 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Elements. Elements in Historical Theory and Practice |
| Genres: |
Historiography Archaeological sites Museology and heritage studies |
This Element explores the yearning for things of the past, from early modern antiquarianism to the contemporary art market. It tells a global story about scholars who, driven by this yearning, roamed the world and amassed many of its historical artefacts. Their motivation was not just pleasure or profit. They longed for a past that had been lost and strived to reconstruct world history anew. This rewriting of history unleashed heated debates, all over the world and raging for centuries. The debates concerned not only the past but also the present and the future. Many believed that, by revealing a strange and foreign past, the material remains opened a path to modernity. So, the Element investigates not only the history of historical scholarship, and its obsession with things, but also our relationship to the past as modern human beings.
Things of the Past features in the following genres: Historiography, Archaeological sites, Museology and heritage studies
Things of the Past is available in Paperback, Hardback
Things of the Past was written by Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen and published by Cambridge University Press
Things of the Past has 75 pages
Yes it is part of Cambridge Elements. Elements in Historical Theory and Practice series
£49.50